Ooni set to marry ex-police officer’s daughter

The Ooni of Ife, Oba Enitan Adeyeye Ogunwusi, is set to marry a new wife after the end of his marriage to Silekunola Naomi.

The new wife has been identified as Mariam Anako, an employee of an oil and gas firm, NestOil.

Ooni, who has been single since his separation in December 2021, will however be having his fourth official marriage.

The Ooni’s union with Naomi produced a son, Tadenikawo, who celebrated his first birthday in November 2021 before Naomi left the palace.

Palace sources said the family introduction had already taken place and Ooni’s new in-laws have met with the revered Yoruba monarch.

The ceremony held on February 19, 2022, was said to have been private and lacked fanfare due to the monarch’s preference for media blackout.

Mariam, who hails from Kogi State is from the Ebira ethnic group, while her parents are based in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital.

The new monarch’s wife, who lost her dad at a young age, was brought up in the home of the former Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Mohammed Dikko Abubakar who resigned between 2012 to 2014, sources familiar with her family disclosed.

MD Abubakar, as he is popularly called, is the in-law of Africa’s richest man, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, while the Ooni’s new mother-in-law is a retired police officer.

Anako works in NestOil and was said to have got contracts from her office to the monarch.

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She was also said to have vowed that Ooni will not marry again after her marriage to him.

The first marriage of the Ooni to Adebukola nee Bombata was troubled before he was installed king but they had to patch things up for the coronation.

After the marriage crumbled, Bukola left the palace for London.

With the crash of his first marriage to Bukola in 2015 and his union with Olori Wuraola hitting the rocks in July 2017, he married Prophetess Naomi in 2018.

However, Naomi, on December 23, 2021, announced her divorce from Ooni via an Instagram post.

According to her written statement, the divorce was not because of “side attractions” or other lovers, as many opined.

She also said her marriage was not arranged, adding that the circumstances were misconstrued by many.

Already, the new queen, Mariam, who is arriving at the palace in August, is all prepared and so are the palace officials who have started renovation works in the vacant chalet that once accommodated former Queen Naomi and her entire family.

The Star